Winter Is Coming

[Me, taking a selfie at the bus stop on the way to work, snow on the ground behind me]

In Ottawa, winter comes early. That photo was taken November 9, and while that snow didn’t stay, I see the frost on the roof across from my office every morning now. Has the snow come to stay yet? I don’t know; I’m actually writing this post in late November, as I’ll be in New York when this is sent out. But I promised bi-monthly, so this will be bi-monthly, damnit!

I did get to go on a lovely walk through Gatineau Park with my sister before winter came, though.

[My sister in Gatineau Park, where the leaves are changing]

But I am now in New York! I’m writing this on my phone, which is not ideal, but here we are. And here I am:

[Me in New York with Kale, doing what I do best: falling asleep. Haha. Had a bunch more work to do than I expected before traveling, both personal and professional, so I got very little sleep before our red-eye flight]

The last two months have had their ups and downs. I injured my wrist in the last game of the season, back at the end of September, so I’ve been staying active, but haven’t been able to do my heavy lifts. It’s finally healing and soon I’ll be back to lifting heavy, but my chance doing well at a powerlifting meet this winter are low. Still, I have enough time to get my strength back for rugby season.

I’ve been baking a lot, as always. Brendan got me a pizza stone for our anniversary, so I’ve been making lots of pizza. Also, my friend Jason wanted an Aspic Party, so I provided!

[Banana chocolate cake, peppermint Oreo ice cream, fruit salad with flummery, kholodets, pizza, peanut butter pasta, and roast squash.]

In other exciting news, the CRA has finally released the money they withheld, acknowledging that, yes, it is my money. So now, instead of house-poor and having all my lines of credit maxed out and stressing about every single bill because I’m living paycheque to paycheque, I can be house-poor with all my savings so when I have more plumbing issues, I can pay for them!

[A man making it rain… with a single dollar bill]

Now that my financial issues are finally sorted, I need to focus on getting my health back on track. Which is difficult in New York. At least I have gone on some long walks!

[Bren and I on the High Line in New York. Yes, I found an app I liked well enough.]

In writing news, I’m still plugging away. I was supposed to have at least one book to query by the end of the year, but that isn’t happening, as y’all are aware by now. Editing has been almost as slow as writing it all over again, as act 2 has been entirely ripped out. Still, I think I should finish this editing pass soon because I don’t think the final third of the book will require as much rewriting. Famous last words, I know. But I really want to buckle down and finish these books up. The plan is now to have one book out to query by May, and the other by October. And then get to editing my fourth book.

My fourth book is coming along! I’ve finished act 1, which is a huge milestone. Instead of math, this time I got stuck trying to design a closed loop life support system. Hard Sci-fi is hard, haha.

Anyway, that’s it for me. I’ll see you all in the new year!

~Payson






    
	Subscribe for monthly updates
* indicates required

	Email Address  *